Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ucsd!rutgers!iuvax!bsu-cs!mithomas
From: mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Problems with a Mac II and a Mac Plus.  Possible virus?
Message-ID: <2654@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 20 Apr 88 03:25:50 GMT
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 32

Hello!  Here is my problem: Starting about two days ago, we began to have
problems with a Mac II and a Mac Plus in our one lab.  We would insert a
disk, watch the computer smile, then spit the disk back out at us and 
reset itself.  We thought that it was a software problem, but then we noticed
that every disk did the same thing.  Then we considered a hardware failure.
This was highly unlikely since both machines began to have problems at the
same time while a third machine in the same room, a Mac SE, was doing fine.

Next step:  Call Apple.  They were clueless, and said they would continue to
look into it.

While they were looking into it, we were looking into the machines.  We decided
that it may be a problem with the parameter RAM, so we disconnected the power
from the Mac Plus and popped the battery out of the back to try to restore the
default settings.  Presto!  No more problems.  So we were going to do the same
thing to the Mac II.  One problem:  The battery (actually 2 of them) in the
Mac II is permanently attached to the motherboard.  It can't be removed.  So
we have a $3000 machine that will not work.  Apple refuses to admit that this
could happen; they see no way that the parameter RAM could cause this drastic
of a problem.  Here, we believe that anything is possible, and if it is
possible, it will happen.  What to do?  They said that we have a disk drive
problem or a logic board problem.  We find this hard to believe, just as they
find our diagnosis hard to believe.

So what do you think?  We believe that something either accidentally or
purposely alters the configuration RAM to some value that was way out there
to confuse the computer.  The question that we have is what did this.  Was
it a virus or just a fluke crash of a program?  If anyone out there has heard
of this problem, let me know.  Any comments will be appreciated.  Thanks.

Michael Niehaus
Ball State University
UUCP: ..!{uunet,pur-ee,iuvax}!bsu-cs!mithomas